Pastor Maldonado and his PDVSA backers are in the final stages of talks that will secure their exit from Williams, and clear the way for Felipe Massa's arrival.

After weeks of speculation about the future of the Venezuelan driver, who has endured a troubled time at Williams this year, high-level sources have revealed he will be racing elsewhere next season.

Although it is understood a deal to leave Williams has not yet been finalised, it is anticipated that matters will be resolved imminently to allow Maldonado to sign a contract elsewhere.

Maldonado has already held 2014 talks with Lotus, Sauber and Force India, with the £20 million per season backing of the oil company a major attraction.

His hopes of a Lotus deal rest on the team not pulling off an investment deal with Quantum Motorsports as that tie-up would provide the outfit with the financial means to secure its preferred option of Nico Hulkenberg.

The other teams are in no rush to finalise their plans, and are now awaiting confirmation from Maldonado that he is a free agent.

Although PDVSA's original five-year deal with Williams runs until the end of 2015, it is understood there will likely be an agreement reached to ensure the team is compensated for the change of plans.

That income, allied to any fresh commercial backing from Brazil that the team can secure if it signs Massa to race alongside Valtteri Bottas, should ensure that Williams is financially secure heading in to next year.

Speaking earlier this month, Maldonado openly admitted he was frustrated at Williams and would prefer to stay at home in 2014 than race in uncompetitive machinery again.

"I really need a good car to enjoy it, and this year I'm not enjoying it," Maldonado told AUTOSPORT.

"I'm living a really bad moment and I need some motivation to keep doing my best.

After weeks of speculation about the future of the Venezuelan driver, who has endured a troubled time at Williams this year, high-level sources have revealed he will be racing elsewhere next season.

Please let it be NASCAR or Rallying or MotoGP or Formula Ford or anywhere that isn't still in F1. He can drive the odd good race in a season, maybe 2 over the course, then everything else is just a miserable disappointment for whoever he crashes into.

Lotus boss Eric Boullier has been told by the team's new investors to sign off a 2014 deal with Nico Hulkenberg.

After months of uncertainty about the status of a partnership with Quantum Motorsports, the man behind the consortium that is buying a 35 per cent stake in the team from Genii Capital revealed at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that the deal was now done.

And, as a priority, he is urging Boullier to finalise a contract that will bring in Hulkenberg as replacement for the outgoing Kimi Raikkonen.

It was believed McLaren is on the verge of confirming Sergio Perez as Jenson Button's continuing teammate for 2014.

But a report by respected correspondent Tom Cary in the Telegraph newspaper claims the Mexican rookie could still be ousted after just a single season with the great British team.

Reportedly, Perez would be replaced by another rookie, the McLaren-developed youngster Kevin Magnussen, who has just wrapped up the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

The son of former McLaren test driver Jan, the young Magnussen won a GP2 test as a prize for his 2013 title, but according to Cary he "pulled out" of the run at the last minute this week "for unexplained reasons".

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh recently described Formula Renault 3.5 as "a much higher quality championship than GP2", and so the test may have been seen as a threat to Magnussen's reputation.

The newly-crowned 2013 GP2 champion, meanwhile, is Fabio Leimer. For the young Swiss, F1 is "as far away from Leimer as the moon", according to the veteran correspondent for Blick newspaper, Roger Benoit.

21-year-old Magnussen, on the other hand, is knocking loudly on the door, but it was expected he would make his debut for a team like Force India or Marussia.

"For me," he told Cary in Abu Dhabi, "if I can get a competitive seat in the first year I would prefer that.

"It's true there is a bigger risk in going to a top team because if you don't perform then you're out of formula one. But for me, if I get to a top team and don't perform then it means I'm not good enough," added Magnussen.

Kevin Magnussen is now favourite to land the second 2014 seat at McLaren, AUTOSPORT has learned, following a series of meetings at the team over the past week.

Although it had appeared in Abu Dhabi that Sergio Perez was closing in on a new deal following some strong performances, his lacklustre pace at Yas Marina prompted fresh questions about his future.

With McLaren having made it clear for months that Perez's consistency was its main concern, it is understood that the outfit was unimpressed about how his race in Abu Dhabi compared to that of Jenson Button, who had been forced to pit for a new nose early on.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh even publicly said that Perez's result there was "disappointing", while deliberately praising Button's form on a weekend when the team had been expected to take a decent haul of points.

In the wake of that race, senior McLaren staff members are understood to have spent time this week evaluating the driver issue.

Although no final decision has been taken, sources suggest that there is now a widespread feeling within the team that Magnussen should be given the nod, and it is suggested that he is actually now favourite to replace Perez.

As well as winning the Formula Renault 3.5 championship this year, Magnussen has impressed McLaren in his two F1 test outings.

Only last month Whitmarsh praised his pace amid a push to get him an F1 seat in 2014.

"He has had two runs in an F1 car [and] in Abu Dhabi, on his third flying lap, he did a time that was good enough for sixth on the grid, which is pretty impressive," said Whitmarsh.